Photo Gallery Summer 2001.html

29th Sep. Inf. Bde. The 29th Separate Infantry Brigade, Hawaii Army National Guard, is an enhanced readiness brigade. It is a unique organization that consists of both U.S. Army Reserve and U.S. Army National Guard units from Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Washington, Oregon, and California. When federalized, this brigade provides USARPAC with an additional combat force capability that can operate independently of other land combat formations for select missions.

Tough training requires U.S. Army Pacific soldiers to carry a simulated casualty on a stretcher through an obstacle course.

Official U.S. Army Photo

1/294th Inf. Bn. & 207th Inf. Gp. (Scout). The 1/294th Infantry Battalion, Guam Army National Guard and the 207th Infantry Group (SCOUT), Alaska Army National Guard, provide USARPAC with additional land combat forces. Both of these units orient on standard infantry skill sets and homeland defense mission tasks.

1st Bn/1st SFG (A). The 1st Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), stationed at Torii Station, Okinawa, Japan, is a forward-deployed Army Special Operations Forces unit in USPACOM. The soldiers of the battalion’s three operational companies are highly trained in a wide variety of special operations skills and capable of conducting the full spectrum of Army Special Forces missions. This battalion is trained and equipped to respond quickly to theater threats and contingency operations, and normally executes missions under the operational control of Special Operations Command, Pacific (SOCPAC).

45th CSG & 9th RSC. The 45th Corps Support Group (Forward) (45th CSG) at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, and the 9th Regional Support Command (U.S. Army Reserve) (9th RSC) at Fort Shafter, Hawaii, together provide a diverse range of combat, combat support, and combat service support to the theater-wide combat forces. The units in the 45th CSG and 9th RSC include the following capabilities: combat-heavy engineering, topographic mapping support, light/medium truck transportation, air medical evacuation, maintenance, explosive ordnance disposal, finance support, infantry, civil affairs, military police, military intelligence linguists, and signal. These active Army and Army Reserve units have the proven ability to move quickly to support disaster-relief operations, augment military forces of other nations, and to participate as full partners in complex exercises involving U.S. and foreign armed forces.

516th Sig. Bde. & 500th MI Gp. The 516th Signal Brigade, Fort Shafter, Hawaii, provides command, control, communications, and intelligence systems capability for USPACOM, while the 500th Military Intelligence Group, Camp Zama, Japan, provides echelon-above-corps electronic warfare and intelligence support to all component commands.

Regional Engagement Program

U.S. and Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force officers discuss tactical plans during a bilateral ORIENT SHIELD exercise in Japan.

Official U.S. Army Photo

USARPAC engagement activities are noteworthy for their diversity and comprehensive application – USARPAC engages in some form with nearly every nation in the Asia-Pacific region. Every exercise, major training event, regional Army-to-Army contact, and opportunity to practice anticipated requirements must be optimally leveraged. Some engagement training with forces from other regional armies is specifically designed to practice forming forces of varied capabilities and, through carefully considered troop-to-task analyses, to set conditions for all participants to succeed in mission taskings assigned. This form of critical interoperability training is essential to coalition success and to future coalition force employment.

USARPAC is uniquely positioned and operationally capable of being a high value-added engagement force in support of USCINCPAC’s theater engagement. USARPAC is able to plan and execute engagement at levels compatible with other nations’ growing capabilities and initiatives, while providing solid opportunities to focus on training requirements and the operational readiness of U.S. Army forces.

Although viewed by many as a maritime theater, most Asia-Pacific nations are dominated by their Armies, placing a higher priority and focus on USARPAC’s Army-to-Army engagement programs. USARPAC forces always strive to set proper examples of professional competence and values, that counterpart army forces may desire and emulate for their own organizations.
USARPAC supports regional stability by engaging its counterparts and sharing professional competencies through multilateral and bilateral engagement events. Army-to-Army interfaces enable U.S. Army forces to enhance interoperability, increase professional understanding, and contribute to the development and modernization of Asia-Pacific land forces.
The Army-to-Army program usually begins with senior leader and subject matter expert exchanges. Engagement then moves to conducting small unit training and bilateral exercises, and reaches the pinnacle with joint and multilateral meetings, training, and exercises. Asia-Pacific armies benefit from staying engaged by improving their capabilities, enhancing regional security and stability, and increasing their ability to work with their regional neighbors. In 2000, USARPAC executed over 200 separate engagement missions.